Williams' rousing rally secures quarter-final spot

Mark Williams, who had not cleared the opening hurdle in any tournament for a year, reached the quarter-finals of the Maplin UK championship after a fine fightback when he beat Mark Allen 9-5 yesterday. The 21-year-old Allen, who had been swiftly away to 6-1 in beating Stephen Hendry 9-4, threatened a similar fate for Williams when he made two centuries, 103 and 115, to lead 5-1. But Williams said: "I made a couple of 50s to win the last two frames of that session and I knew that if I could win the first couple [on the resumption] the pressure would be on him." The key frame was the 11th, which Williams took on the black in a tense finish to lead 6-5. Ronnie O'Sullivan cruised through with a 9-1 win over Mark King but said he could not "allow myself to say that was a good performance. There were far too many unforced errors".